As the Las Vegas Raiders head into the NFL offseason, we’re starting a new series of articles that will release over the next few weeks looking at the 10 most important players moving forward, counting them down from 10 to one. The criteria are simple: You’ve got to be important and you’ve got to be under contract for next season. Oh, and you can’t be a quarterback who is technically both important and under contract, but who is almost assuredly going to be in a different uniform next season.
In total, there are 45 players who are under contract next season (for now) — a group that does not include guys like Josh Jacobs, Jarrett Stidham, Denzel Perryman and Rock Ya-Sin among others. Of the 45 who are, which 10 will play the biggest role in determining whether Josh McDaniels’ second year in charge will go far better than the first?
That’s the question I’m aiming to explore, so, starting with No. 10…
No. 10: Divine Deablo
With all due respect to Deablo, it’s an indictment of the roster that he makes a top-ten list for a team who should have playoff aspirations given the talent you’ll find at the top of this list. Like, Deablo is a fine player — but at this point, he’s still an unknown two seasons after being taken in the third round of the draft.
And he’s No. 10?
Yep.
2022 Stats: 8 games, 74 tackles, 0 FF, 0 INT, 0 SACKS
2023 Outlook
Deablo entered last season as a starter and was the team’s leading tackler through eight games. Unfortunately, a forearm injury cost him the final nine weeks and valuable developmental time.
As for next season, Deablo is the only Week 1 starting linebacker set to return, and what Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham thinks about him will probably inform a lot of their approach to the position group this offseason. Then again, with as many holes as exist on this roster, they may not have the luxury of being picky at linebacker.
In my opinion, however, I think I’ve seen enough in a year-and-a-half to say that the Raiders might have a competent starter. His athleticism makes me believe the Raiders might have a three-down linebacker on their hands — and with another year in Graham’s complicated system, I’m hopeful we’ll see more and more of those flash plays.
The pessimistic view, though, would be that Deablo’s numbers were merely the product of the dearth of talent in front and behind him. Which, to be fair, might be true! But screw pessimism — the Raiders are 0-0! — I’ll place my bet on another step forward and the third-year linebacker making a positive impact next season.
